Roger Federer saw off Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/1) on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the Swiss Indoors. Federer had to save a set point in the ninth game of the first set as Nieminen fought hard to try and win the first set of his career against the world No. 2 after losing 18 dating back to 2002 in Moscow.
Nieminen’s brave game failed him as Federer finally took the opening set and then recovered from an early break in the second for 4-4. He then raced away through a second decider to convert on the first of five more match points, advancing in just over 90 minutes.
The Finn now stands 0-10 in the series where he had said just to win a set might have felt like a victory as the pair played a repeat of last year’s final.
Italian Simone Bolelli, beat Spain’s Marcel Granollers 6-4, 6-2 while James Blake kept up his hopes of making the ATP season-ending championship when he defeated Spain’s Oscar Hernandez 6-7 (4/7), 6-2, 6-4.
Second seed David Nalbandian needed nearly two and a half hours to subdue qualifier Kristof Vliegen, posting a 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7/4) win.
■ ST PETERSBURG OPEN
AFP, ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA
Andy Murray, top seed and defending champion, breezed past Ernests Gulbis of Latvia and into the last eight on Thursday.
Murray won 6-4, 6-2 in one hour one minute to record his second win over Gulbis in as many meetings.
Also on Thursday Serb Janko Tipsarevic ousted Jeremy Chardy of France in straight sets 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) and Kazakhstani qualifier Andrey Golubev upset crowd favorite Marat Safin, winning 6-4, 6-2 to reach his first quarter-final.
Mischa Zverev of Germany upset another Russian Mikhail Youzhny, seeded fourth, 7-5, 6-4.
■ LINZ OPEN
AP, LINZ, AUSTRIA
Top-seeded Ana Ivanovic and No. 2 Vera Zvonareva eased into the quarter-finals with straight-sets wins on Thursday.
Ivanovic downed Sybille Bammer of Austria 6-4, 6-2 while Zvonareva routed Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain 6-2, 6-0.
Zvonareva dropped serve in the opening set against Llagostera Vives and saved five more breakpoints, but was in control afterward.
Fifth-seeded Nadia Petrova defeated Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia 6-4, 7-6 (7) to set up a quarter-final match against Agnieszka Radwanska.
Petrova was broken twice while serving for the match at 5-4 and 6-5, and the Russian missed four match points in the tiebreaker before finally converting.
Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine was the only unseeded player to make the quarter-finals by beating fourth-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-2, 2-6, 6-1.
In other matches Marion Bartoli of France beat Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (4), 1-6, 6-3 and Flavia Pennetta of Italy defeated Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-1.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two